Your villain is oftentimes not only as important as your protagonist, but also moreso. How can this be? Aren’t they just the opposite of each other?

The answer is, “They are the opposite of each other.” But how and why are necessary to understand before blazing in there and creating another stereotypical villain, because let’s face it: we all want to create a killer villain! (No pun intended.)

In musicals, isn’t it often the villain songs that are, for one reason or another, some of the best? Well, we want your written villain to feel the same—and this week we are going to use a song to demonstrate how creating those moments works.

Welcome to Writing Tip Wednesdays, where I post (you guessed it) tips on writing every Wednesday at 5:00 PM ET. This week’s topic:

Well, I hope everyone had a very merry Christmas, and that you have a lovely New Year! This week, I thought what better way to bookend a year than by talking about villains who, as a general rule, hate new beginnings?

We’ve all seen villain stereotypes. The guy stroking his cat, Darth Vader who is so bad, but ends up so pitiful. Same with Loki—you want to see him change, and even worse (better?) you see the potential for him to be good, and make for himself a better life. But he never does. And most of our villains never take that chance.